French Satirical Magazine's Website Taken Offline After Death Threats

The website of French satirical magazine, Charlie
Hebdo has been taken offline after its host received
death threats from Islamic groups angry at the publication's
proposal for a special Islamic issue.

France 24 reports that Belgian hosting company, Bluevision,
has taken the site down after being threatened. No doubt the
company do not wish to suffer the same fate as the magazine,
which saw
its offices firebombed yesterday in protest of the magazine's
edition celebrating the Arab Spring.

The magazine, which was running
a special issue dubbed "Charia Hebdo" in celebration of
Islam's role in the Arab Spring, also had its website hacked so
that it displayed the message "No God but Allah." The special
edition of the magazine had a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed on
the front with a speech bubble reading "100 lashes if you don't
die with laughter."

According to the BBC,
Charlie Hebdo's editor has called the firebombing of the
magazine's offices as "an attack against freedom." The same
source reported that he labeled the attackers as "idiot
extremists."

France 24 reports that the whole episode has been taken up as
a freedom of speech issue by the French press. French publication
Liberation
is now housing the Charlie Hebdo journalists, while
simultaneously running an issue celebrating the right to offend
whoever it wants.